The Shame of Fame — the 2009 version Movie Review

With great anticipation I entered the theater to view the much-hyped 2009 version of the now classic 1980 original Fame. With no preconceived opinions of the film, I took my seat — popcorn and peanut M & Ms in hand.

At the time I was thinking it would be unfair to make any comparisons between the two. After all, dance and music have come so far in the past 30 years. But a feature film about kids in a school of performing arts would have to be incredible.

The first seven minutes of the film did not disappoint. The collage of “improved” dance, music and vocals that came together in the school’s lunchroom was an exciting intro to what should have been an artistic adventure.

Instead, the audience was privy to four great music videos (a special mention goes to the “CarnEvil” scene) strung together with sketchy story lines for far too many characters. Except for Denise and maybe Malik, you don’t really get to know any of them well enough to care — or even see how they truly had transitioned over their four years in school. And there was no fluidity. By the time the aspiring ballet dancer lost all hope, I had forgotten he was in the movie and even his name. That’s pretty bad since Kevin is my brothers’ name.

There also were an inordinate number of scenes where the high school kids found themselves in some very adult situations without any adults present. Sure, we are living in different times, but this was hard to swallow. Apparently, the attempt here was to show how difficult the world can be for those who truly want to make it. Point made... I guess.

A few great actors — Charles Dutton, Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth… — as teachers and mentors were thrown in to add some spice to the mix but their roles fell flat. Of course, the story is about the kids but the audience should be given a little more than a cheap Karaoke performance from Megan Mullally to give credence to her as one who could inspire these “wanna be” stars.

The shame of Fame is that there are very talented dancers, singers and actors that just simply were not given the time to shine in a two-hour film. No doubt you will be seeing a lot more of Naturi Naughton who played Denise (I think she’s got a good agent).

But all in all, this was a “wait-for-video” film for me.

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by Michelle E. Latney